Bank of New York Mellon's net income rose in the fourth quarter as growing assets under management helped boost its fee income from asset and wealth management services.
The giant custodial bank, based in New York, said Wednesday that fee income in the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 17 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Bank of New York Mellon's net income rose to $622 million, or 53 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2012 from $505 million, or 42 cents per share, in the previous year's fourth quarter.
Net interest revenue fell to $725 million from $780 million a year earlier. Net interest revenue combines interest on loans that the bank collects and interest on deposits and debt that the bank pays out. It is a measure of the bank's ability to profit from its lending.
Banks are seeing interest income squeezed by ultra-low interest rates and competition for depositors. They rely increasingly on fees for services like money management and basic retail banking.
Bank of New York Mellon's assets under management rose 10 percent, to $1.39 trillion, from $1.26 trillion a year earlier. Noninterest income, which includes fees and gains on securities, rose to $2.85 billion from $2.77 billion a year earlier.
Bank of New York Mellon reports this category as "total fee and other revenue."
The bank's total revenue rose 2 percent, to $3.62 billion from $3.54 billion in 2011's fourth quarter.
The earnings result was in line with analysts' expectations, while revenue was slightly higher. Analysts polled by FactSet had, on average, expected earnings of 53 cents per share.
For the full year 2012, Bank of New York Mellon's net income fell to $2.43 billion from $2.52 billion. Earnings per share were flat at $2.03 as the number of shares outstanding decreased. During 2012 the company repurchased nearly 50 million shares for $1.1 billion.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is best known for its custodial banking services, as well as investment and asset management for wealthy individuals, companies and funds.
The company's shares fell 78 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $26 in morning trading Wednesday. In the past year, they have traded between $19.30 and $27.32.
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